Industrial Designs
Safepak Limited v Power Plast Industries Limited (Civil Case 206 of 2013) [2014] KEHC 5855 (KLR) (24 March 2014) (Ruling)
Facts
Safepak owned Industrial Design No. 646 (registered 13 December 2011) for twisting vertical ribs on plastic water bottles. It found Power Plast selling bottles with a comparable ribbed pattern; a cease-and-desist letter was contested, and Power Plast then filed its own competing design application at KIPI.
Issues
Whether Safepak made out a prima facie case of infringement and irreparable harm warranting an interlocutory injunction.
Rule
Industrial Property Act s.92(3), ss.53-55, ss.86-87, ss.106/113(1)/115(1); Industrial Property Regulations 2002 reg.49; Civil Procedure Rules O.40 rr.1-3; Constitution art.40(5). The court followed Safepak v Dynaplas Ltd (HCCC 359 of 2007, Warsame J).
Analysis
The Court compared photographs of both bottles and found only minimal, non-substantial differences insufficient to distinguish Power Plast's product from the registered design, noting that "the intellectual property to be protected is in the bottle, not the product put in it." Damages were held inadequate given the difficulty of quantifying IP harm.
Conclusion
Injunction granted restraining manufacture, import, export and sale of the infringing bottles and dealing with related moulds; costs to Safepak.
Ruling available at kenyalaw.org.